The Portland daily press., 1887-09-05
rHE PRESS.
oUATR EFoIL.
IAllsplce in Harper,s Bazar.l


about nine O'Clock on pleasant mornings
might have seen two girls on horseback, at
tended by a staid, elderly groom, enter the
Eighth avenue gate of Central Park, and
presently disappear under the leafy arch,
way which forms the entrance to the Bride
road.
These two girls were my cousin Leslie Eff
bingham and myself, Louise Marie Arbuth.
not, usually known to all my intimates as
Lou Arbuthnot. Leslie was tall, slender
girl with straight classic features, marble
white complexion, and a perfect rope Of
hair, ''yellow like ripe corn" On horse
back, in her perfectly fitting habit, absolute
ly moulded to her figure, she was one contin
ued. sinuous. graceful outline from head I,
foot. Moreover, she was very clever, studi
GUS, and well read, and had but one serlou,
fault in my eyes, that of being morbidly, in
curably shy, and especially with men. On,
would nave thought every man was a vol
in sleeps clothing.
In this respect, as in most others, was
perfect contrast to Leslie, as l was short
plump, and rosy checked, with curly brown
hair, and l have been told often that the
d;mples round my mouth and under my
eyes are But there! What is the use Of
At that time had been advised to try rid.
ing for my health, and Leslie, who always
went out every day, had invited me to ac.
company her regularly. To this plan l had
but one Objectionable fact that / am, and
always was, an arrant coward on horse
back. My father, who is an Englishman,
had me taught in the ne plus ultra riding
school, and attempted to inStil into me his
belief on the subject of horses, which he oft
en- summed up in two formulas, viz: /, all
horses can be ridden; 2, a horse which can
be ridden by man can be ridden by wo-
man.
Although by dint of instruction learned
to ride well enough on quiet horse, and
even to sit a plunge or two, was afraid all
the time, and II an animal 10 at all positive
about having his own way he is sure to get
1t with me. To this day prefer to ride a
trotting horse, because when trotting horse
Is. trottlng horse am sure he is not run
ming away.
No words can tell how hated and feared
my black pony Sprite, and well did the little
wretch know it and take advantage of his
power. Perhaps three mornings out of four
he would go along quietly enough. the
fourth he would shy at every baby wagon,
ID. p. p. cart, drain cover or bright pebble
he could see, kick at imaginary flies, SQUAT
like rabbit if he saw a bicycle, then leap
up and scuttle away in the same fashion.
Worse still, though he had absolutely no
fear of the elevated road, at such times he
would not go under it, but turning short
round and rising placidly on his hind legs
would give me the option of getting off over
his tail or surrendering at discretion.
In vain did Leslie urge, scold and ridi-
Guile me; the result was always the same:
her groom had to come up and lead Sprite.
Leslie, who in the saddle knew no fear,
could not realize my timidity. Her own
horse, powerful bay thoroughbred, seemed
to me perfect terror, liable as he was at
any moment to Jump an unknown number of
feet off the ground, lash out viciously while
In the air, then landing dozen feet farther
on, canter away as quietly as before; but
Leslie liked nothing better.
-, Notwithstanding my frequent terrors.
these morning rides were very pleasant.
Often we met and exchanged greetings with
girls whom we knew, though we seldom
Joined any other party. Some riders we
were nearly sure to meet, among them Mill
tie mustang, and about this time you were
pretty apt to see Fred Vanderhayden's
snowy black mare, Forget Me Not, trotting
as close alongside the Comet as the pony
would allow. Often, too, we met the Dayton
twins, and rain or shine we were sure to see
those fast friends, Rhita Travers and Edith
Maytleld. 1t always amused me to see Les
and Edith Mayield scan eash others horses
Both were, in school parlance, crack riders
but Les had ridden all her life, while Miss
Mayheld had only been. riding few years.
Though Les was by far the handsomest
woman and most graceful rider, Edith was
hard to beat for dash, pluck and fearless
ness. AS her cousin, Graham Vane, used to
say: Il never mind seeing Edith ON bad
horse asl would another woman. 1 always
feel sure she will come out all right some
how, or other. She has the knack Of manag-
ing horses"
Miss Mayfeld needed to have a knack, for
never saw anyone ride habitully such sa-
tanie animals. Leslie sometimes looked posi-
lively enyious, while Edith never failed to
cast an admiring glance at Leslie's hand
some Roushan Bey, especially if at the time
he happened to be having an attack Of hyste-
ria Of the hind legs.
One morning late in April we rode up to
the end OF Tenth avenue, and turned into
field to jump, while Leslie sent her groom off
on an errand, saying that meantime she
would give Roushan Bey some practice over
stone wall. jumped Sprite over the low
rail fence that divided the field from the
road, and this feat satisfied ali my ambition
in that line.
Leslie pat Roushan Bey at the highest
part Of the stone wall, which he cleared
grandly, but Leslie could net at once pull
him in. Sprite, thinking himself deserted,
rushed at the wall, stopped short, then, ris-
ing on his hind legs, planted his forefeet on
the top stone, aud stood, calmly but firmly
refusing TO move. | screamed to Leslie to
come quick, while Sprite only whisked his
little dOcked tail, cooked his ears, and actu-
ally wriggled with enjoyment of my dilem-
ma.
AT my call Leslie turned her horse round
to come to my assistance, but Roushan Bey
alarmed at the curious spectacle, refused to
come near me, rearing angrily at each at
tempt Leslie made to force him up.
At this moment l saw a horseamn coming
rapidly toward us, evidently intending to
jump. At my shrek he checked his horse,
just glanced at Leslie, but seeing that she
needed no assistance, he dismounted, threw
the reins on the neck of his horse and came
toward me. l called to him to run, please"
but he was too good horseman for that.
Advancing quickly, he made slight detour,
swinging himself lightly over the wall and
coming quietly up to me. slipped one arm
other round my waist, lifted me from the
saddle and placed me gently on the ground.
The next moment Master Sprite found
himself on his four feet with man firmly
seated on his back. Not liking the change,
the pony made sudden attempt to kick the
new rider off; that failing, lie tried to get
rid eof him by turning short round and
plunging sideways, plan which proved
equally unsuccessful. Sprite was a pony of
much sagacity, and always, if he could,
avoided any personal discomfort. He there
fore appeared TO submit, and even jumped
the wall at the signal, though the vicious
kicks he gave on landing were calculated to
uDseat any one, unless, like a Centaur, he
had been indissoluby Joined to his horse |
think Sprite deeply regretted that piece of
treacheTy. The lesson he received it did me
good to see, and when at length he was al
lowed pause to recover breath and spirits,
a meeker, sadder, more injured looking pony
it would have been hard to find.
/ had long since recognized my champion
as Mr.. Walter DeyereuX, classmate of my
elder brother Clarence, though l had not
seen him since class day, when he beguiled
me out of five dances. thanked him warm
ly, and Leslie quietly, for his assistance,
though | was still thoroughly scared at the
thought of the ride home that lay before me-
As Mr.. Devereux talked he kept Sprite
moving up and down, and seemed to be ad-
justing the saddle. Suddenly he lifted it off
the pony, and before / realized what was GO
ing, he had his own saddle on Sprite and
was buckling mine on his horse.
what are you going to do?" asked,
hastily
with your permission, Miss Arbuthnot, |
am going to put you on my mare and ride
your pony back myself" was the answer.
pet Marjorie is a perfectly trained and
steady animal, and just now you are not in a
condition to contend with that willful little
pony of yours"
Leslie looked very much as IL she would
have liked to object but did not well know
now 10 40 So Nothing could be urged
against Mr.. Devereux except her general
aversion to men, and she was, besides morti-
fed at having failed to get Roushan Bey up
in time.
Mr.. DeyereuX was therefore permitted to
join us on our homeward ride. Sprite was
marvel of propriety, though an occasional
shy or swerYe made me glad l was not on